Stub Mandrel

If you want a really accurate levelling beam, buy three lengths of good, straight bar, a scraper and some engineer's blue. Label the bars A B & C. Using tiny amounts of blue on one bar rub the face of another against it. The blue will rub off at the high spots. Scrape these down a tiny amount. Scrape A using B as the test, then B against C, then C against A and keep rotating between them. You will be able to get accuracy well below 1/1000". Eventually.

They are more flexible than most, so the edges don't dig into your shoulder (I only have four...)

If you are in the dark for six hours while your gear does all the interesting stuff on its own with minimal intervention, it's much more enjoyable with a mate to chat to. When imaging at home I spend most of the time on forums or what'sapp. Plus, a star party is essentially the same as a bass bash - a chance to share your interest with like-minded folks face to face.

This is very much me trying to compose some 'solo' stuff mostly for my own satisfaction, also in the hopes it benefits my wider technique/options.

Nota song, but an exercise from the 'Dummies' series I found by accident: Excellent for 1 finger per fret players, I went through each one as eight notes, 120bpm, starting on G. I did stop between each pattern 🙂 A bit like doing the independence exercises drummers do, it uncovers a few sequences not in your muscle memory. Surprising which ones trip you up.

I have long fingers but I can see this may be an issue for some. I mostly play 4 note bar chords and open shapes and relatively close double stops. I find most basses sound great when you use the D or A as a pedal note and play a melody on the higher strings, which is a similar situation, and yes some get murky if you use the E as a pedal. I suppose I am wondering what makes some basses not sound muddy when you get down low. Not familiar I'll look him up. Ah, I sometimes try to play like that, but with less melodic results... Humbucker, I recall we thought they were essentially guitar pups back in the day, and they have very high output. I've always used Elite standard (105) on the Hohner. The Hohner isn't clanky, but it has a very aggressive tone control, so much so the volume drops noticeably when rolled off. With both pups the chords sound less defined with tone rolled back, but instead you get a very nice 'growl' as the E and A strings harmonise. My active headless Hohner (5-string) doesn't sound anywhere near as good. I can see 6 strings offer more chordal flexibility. Are their pups/electronic designed to give a better chord sound?

Interesting choice of date... on 6-8 I'm 'glamping' at a star party...

Not a lot on mine either, at least view wise, but I rarely see ads.

Bet you have a channel. I reckon if you get a few views a month you get fewer ads to encourage people to create content.

I've got an old Hohner B2 and one of the things about it is that, despite having humbuckers, it sounds really clear, well-defined chords. To varying degrees my other basses tend for the lower strings to sound (relatively) muddy and the higher ones too strident when I play 3/4 string chords - this is when set up for good normal sound. It doesn't seem to be such a thing when double stopping, only when things get seriously polyphonic 🙂 More than one bass player noted for 'rhythm style chordal playing used/uses a Rickenbacker(C)(TM)(R). What do the panel think are the things that make a bass particularly good at articulating chords. Or is this all in my imagination?

A strap like that should come with a pair of stirrups.

I wouldn't go that far. Manual says To me it sounds more like mid boost with the switch up.

The cable on my home made PSU gave way mid-gig, thankfully between songs. Most of my pedals have battery backup but pulling out all the PSU wires AND removing anything without a battery would have taken too long. I just pulled out the receiver (I was wireless) put it in the amp and whacked up the gain a bit! Now got a rather snazzy TGI psu.

Makes the sound 'fatter' in the up position.

For sure you won't find any deviancy on a Zappa album...

Sorry, but that's an example of what I find too boring not too heavy 🙂

Encouraged me to go back and listen to Reign in Blood after a long break. It is very prescient. Has anyone else noticed it's got Vladimir Putin/Dobbie the House Elf on the cover?

" Increased circuit board voltage gives dramatically more headroom and dynamics for an incredibly "alive" overdrive sound. " Not that I am entirely convinced that headroom makes any real difference, any (amp head) preamp that can't boost a lower headroom pedal past a useful input level isn't doing its job.

I'm a big fan of Rectal Mucilage and Snotty Hanky. 🙂

Does not compute)£(^"%&()*+_*%&!!!!!! It's only sound coming out of a speaker. There are a few things I can't handle (basically Edith Piaf, K-Pop and other teenage-girl-oriented pop). Some of the less well done 'extreme' metal fails because it reaches the level of self-parody and makes me laugh, rather than not being able to cope. I am an 'album oriented listener' who enjoys listening to a curated (to use a very in-vogue term) collection of music, but when I do I enjoy some light and shade. Some of the music you refer to feels boring, rather than relentless. Personally I think something like Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, 20th Century Schizoid Man are 'heavier' because of their use of dynamics.

Perhaps if I elaborate a bit. I think it's usually wrong to introduce additional complexity behind a solo. What is needed is to retain a solid rhythm without creating a distraction. After all its 'rhythm guitar' that's dropping out. Some double stopping to thicken up the sound is fine, but swapping from straight eights to arpeggios behind a solo seems counterproductive to me. I've recently learned some songs (admittedly for a four-piece) and the bass line generally simplifies behind the solos.

"He is risen!" Sorry, that should be: "He is risible!"

Ref. amps. If you are truly desperate, a bass (via pedals if necessary) can go direct into a dynamic mic input on a mixer without a DI box, as long as your sound engineer has some wits to get decent EQ and watches the levels.